A bird's eye view of the port and entrance of Valetta

Another version with the same dimensions as this large bodycolour, this time with the addition of figures, is part of a series of four views of Valetta, now in the Museum of the Order of Saint John, London (S. Dyer, A Catalogue of Topographical Prints and Drawings of Malta in the Museum of the Order of St John, London, 1984, nos. 5 a-d). The views were engraved without the figures by Antoine Benoist (1721-1770) and published by Goupy himself and they soon became the most well-known representations of Malta (see British Museum, London, inv. 1952,0214.96-99).

The city is seen from the sea. In the centre of the foreground is Fort Saint Elmo, and to the right Fort Manoel during the early stages of construction. The building of the fort started in 1723 and work was completed during the 1730s giving a potential date for the present drawing and the other four views Goupy made of Valetta.